Camas schools, teachers reach tentative deal

Camas teachers seem likely to avoid a repeat of the summer of 2023, when stalled contract negotiations led to the Camas School District’s first-ever teachers’ strike and delayed the start of the 2023-24 school year by nearly two weeks.

On Friday, the school district announced on its Facebook page that it had reached a tentative agreement with its teachers’ union.

“We appreciate the collaborative efforts of both teams throughout the bargaining process,” the district’s post stated, adding that more details will be shared once the agreement has been ratified.

Beth Ceron, president of the Camas Education Association, said Monday that the union’s more than 400 members will review the proposed agreement in August.

By email, Ceron said the two sides “shared mutual concern over limited state funding to address the evolving needs of our students, schools and communities” and had waited until the close of the Washington Legislature’s 2025 session to tackle the contract’s major financial issues.

Representatives from the district and the teachers’ union began negotiating in January and met 10 times between Jan. 22 and June 24.

Shortfall looms

The bargaining sessions were colored by the school district’s looming $13 million budget shortfall, declining student enrollment and the layoffs of 50 Camas school employees ahead of the 2025-26 school year.

In a contract proposal shared with the public in early June, the district pitched a 1 percent cut in teacher salaries in 2025-26, a 1 percent boost in 2026-27 and a cost-of-living increase commensurate with inflation rates in 2027-28.

That offer is a stark departure from the two-year bargaining agreement union members ratified in September 2023, which gave Camas teachers — who were then earning between $59,724 and $111,711 a year — a 6.4 percent salary bump in 2023-24 and a 6.6 percent salary increase in 2024-25.

In a statement emailed to The Post-Record on Tuesday, Camas schools Superintendent John Anzalone thanked the teams “for engaging in such a professional, collegial and student-centered bargaining process.”

Anzalone added that he believes the tentative agreement “reflects the best of what happens when collaboration is built on trust, respect and shared purpose.”

Kelly Moyer: 360-735-4674; kelly.moyer@columbian.com